A Book a Day? What's Up With That?


Hi, and welcome to this year-long project. So what's this all about and how did it happen, you might ask. In mid 2007, artist Noah Scalin decided to make a skull out of anything he could find, every day for a year. It stretched him in ways he never imagined, as an artist, a writer and a person. His experience turned into a blog that went viral, and then a book.

Others have picked up on the idea: 365 Hearts, 365 Masks, 365 Bears drawn on a cellphone, 365 paper napkin mustaches.
I wanted to play, too, and I chose books. I love books, I know a bit about making books (thanks to my talented book-maker sister, Marilyn Worrix), and they're broad enough in definition to give me a lot of creative leeway.

The whole point is not really the books. The idea is to stretch myself in many ways as an artist and a person, to set up a discipline, stick with it and see what that teaches me.

I hope you'll join with me and follow along on the journey chronicled here, and let me know what you think.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Book 208 - "Rose" - A Round Palm-Leaf Binding of Rose Windows

Since I liked  the palm-leaf book I did the other day, I thought I'd try another one... but different. So I made it round. I came across some gorgeous photos of stained glass rose windows from churches all over the world and picked a variety of them to use.

First I had to size all the photos so they were exactly the same size and perfectly round. Then I printed them out on good satin finish photo paper. I glued each photo onto a backing of black pearlescent card stock for extra stability then cut them out. I recently bought a circle cutter, which helped keep them nice and round. I made two covers just a tad larger, also with a rose window photo, then added a black disc label with the word "Rose" spelled out in smaller circles.

The binding is merely a length of sturdy black linen thread sewn through a hole dead center in each disc, with an irridescent bead knotted onto each end. You can pull the window pages well open to see the detail in each window. When closed, the excess thread is tied around the book and wrapped around the beads.

I have to admit, this came out much nicer than I thought it would.




2 comments:

  1. OMGoodness!! This is just beautiful! I loved stained glass and this is such a unique way to display the pictures. What a creative muse you have. ;) Wonderful! Just wonderful!

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  2. This is lovely, great colors and such a neat way to capture rose windows. Excellent idea.

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